City can’t yet determine impact on utility usage

By GILLIAN SLADE on April 7, 2020.

gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade

What has COVID-19 done to our consumption of water and electricity?

More people than ever before are paying attention to washing their hands thoroughly as running water streams from the faucets in their homes.

People are busy cooking at home, more than ever before and children are baking as part of their daily education while schools are closed.

So many people are also working from home and those lights and power supplies that were dormant during the day while they were at the office are now supplying power all day long.

Medicine Hat’s utility department says it is a little early to tell what the impact is.

“At this point it’s too early to tell. We will have a better idea in a month once all March and April bills are processed,” said Jaret Dickie, manager utilities business support, energy and utilities division for the city.

Dickie says that the city does expect to see an increase in some areas but there will also be a reduction in other areas such as commercial premises.